I’m trying to find the best all round packaged account. Is the breakdown cover better with Nationwide, Lloyds Silver or Halifax Ultimate Rewards?
Depends whether you value onward travel, which Nationwide offer, or cover for the family, which Halifax offer.
I’m thinking about switching from the latter to the former because the onward travel would probably be more useful to me. On the other hand the excess on the mobile cover element (which I’ve claimed on twice already and been very happy with) costs more with Nationwide, and it’d be £1/month (net) more.
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I’ve already just applied for a FlexPlus account this evening. Nationwide’s price is insane and it comes with follow on cover.
I’ve been paying Halifax Ultimate Rewards prices for a few months and feel silly 
. Just waiting for the card to arrive before starting the CASS.
Halifax is a quid cheaper if you do the reward “spend £500” (on a savings deposit) trick.
Nationwide is great value tho and less faff.
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I didn’t know about that thank you. I have already hard a hard search from Nationwide so going to stick with that decision now
Might also be worth looking at Virgin Money. Their Club M account is super good value if you’re single (or a couple without kids, iirc)
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Any deals like this which don’t include travel? I have that already
Unless things have changed since I last looked into this, Nationwide’s FlexPlus benefits are unbeatable. The mobile phone insurance covers all handsets in the household, including the latest iPhones, Pixels, etc.
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Didn’t we used to have a community-led wiki table of these things somewhere on here?
It kept track of all these things and made it easy to compare. Would link to it if I could find it.
Or am I thinking of the old forum?
They’ve (Virgin Money) been pretty dreadful so far. Received the card in double quick time, but am still waiting for the PIN - 2 weeks later. They ‘forgot’ to order it when I rang them up chasing why it hadn’t arrived. The PIN that almost every other bank lets you personally set…
The card management tab of the app has been broken for weeks apparently - you have to ring up and request a new card because of this. Likewise with requesting a cheque book or paying in book - not available in app ‘for security reasons’.
Another vote here for the Nationwide FlexPlus.
For what you actually get, I don’t think it can be beaten.
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It’s not quite a slam dunk
- Halifax is £1/month cheaper, if you factor in the £5 reward (which can be had on top of 3 more non-ultimate Reward accounts); Nationwide however is £4 cheaper if you can’t be bothered with the faff
- Excess on the mobile phone insurance differs by device on Nationwide, whereas Halifax have a set amount for everything except iPhones.
- Halifax only allow you to insure one device per account holder, whereas Nationwide’s allow you to add all the devices owned by your family (even on a sole account). There are also differences in number of claims etc.
- Halifax include family cover for breakdowns; Nationwide include Onward Travel/National Recovery
- Halifax also include Home Emergency cover - although it’s quite limited in usefulness IME.
Not true, in my experience. None of the high street banks I’ve applied for accounts with recently do this.
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I don’t know where you got that idea. Most banks do not let you set your own PIN.
The fact Nationwide’s mobile phone insurance covers all the phones in the household makes it a no brainer for me. For anyone with multiple phone users at home, it really can’t be beaten. For someone who is single and only has one mobile phone, there may well be better options.
Just to add, Nationwide’s breakdown policy covers you as a passenger in any vehicle. My wife has benefitted from the breakdown cover three times because I’ve been in the car with her 
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Or as a couple with one phone each, in which case a joint Ultimate Reward Account covers both.
(This is what me and the OH do presently.)
Also true of most (possibly all?) packaged breakdown cover - it’s the account holder(s) who are insured, not a vehicle. You could change your account to be a joint and your wife would be covered even if you’re not there.
With Halifax Ultimate Reward this cover is actually extended to your whole family.
Decided to make the leap to Nationwide. Car isn’t going to get more reliable with age and it’d be rubbish to have a holiday wrecked by something going wrong on the way there.
When do Nationwide take the monthly fee for FlexPlus?
Last day of the month.
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We have one of account features on a bank-by-bank basis. We can set one up for packaged accounts though. Not sure how that would look but certainly open to suggestions
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